The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Guest Chat with Lois McMaster Bujold

Wynelda Shelton

Recently, members of WVU had the pleasure of speaking with author Lois McMaster Bujold, author of over 14 novels. Below are excepts from the conversation that ensued. For more information on Lois, please visit the her website at http://www.dendarii.com.

Part One: On Starting a Novel

Wyndie: Lois, how do you start your novels? Characters or plot or...?

Lois: I've used all three as starting points: character, plot, and setting/idea. Most of the Miles books start with character. Spirit Ring began with plot, the old folk tale "The Grateful Dead." Ethan of Athos began with the idea, the uterine replicators and their possible social effects. However, whatever a book starts with, it has to develop all elements pretty quickly; they all feed each other. Even *setting* is an element of characterization. Different characters will notice different things about their surroundings, describe them in different way, and overlay different emotional responses.

On Characterization:

Slide: How did you get the idea for Miles' type of problem?

Lois: Miles has a lot of real-world inspirations, which have all sort of composted down over the years; he's pretty much himself by now. I could name Lawrence of Arabia as a bright, nervy, short soldier-type, a hospital pharmacist I used to work with who supplied a physical template (short, oversized head, leg braces, brains galore) and my own case of Great Man's Son (Child?) syndrome as starting points.

Peg: Do you find the work is character driven, the plot and subplots arising from the characters themselves as you work?

Lois: Mostly my work is character-driven. I want some inner sense of emotional satisfaction with the events I propose. My sense of pacing and timing seems to be wholly intuitive.

On Setting And World Building

Shanna: Lois, when you are creating your worlds, is it an evolving process where you have to make changes as the story grows?

Lois: I make up my setting around the story as it proceeds, so it's a continuous process. Some, of course, must be set in advance or one cannot begin. But in general, my setting doesn't exist till a character passes through it.

Lucille: Your fantasy world "started.&uqot; Does it grow, or does it have boundaries?

Lois: It grows with every story, of course. In detail, if not in scope. Things can grow inwardly as well as outwardly. Very fractal. The inside of every character's head is a universe. If you mean Chalion, it's just started to grow. I only have a little piece of it yet. Sort of like a slice of potato with an eye, from which whole crops may yet descend.

On Writers' Block

Claxton: Lois, how do you deal with writer's block?

Lois: Writers' block has a number of definitions. The most common is simply a synonym for "being stuck", which is usually non-fatal. It's simply, for me, my back-brain telling me I'm trying to do something wrong with the story, and going on sit-down strike till I fix it. The more serious form is when one has truly gone "off" writing, lost appetite for it, almost a form of depression (and a bad feedback loop one at that). I've not had too much trouble with that form, which is far more serious.

Wyndie: Lois, have you ever started a story, gotten 50 or 100 pages into it, then felt it wasn't going anywhere and you needed to stop working on it?

Lois: No. In general, that's a problem I work out at the outline stage. While I've often been stuck or frustrated, usually I also have a contract. The fear of having to give the money back is a *great* motivator for slogging ahead. There is a "feel" when an idea is going to support a novel; it's hard to describe. But so far, it's been pretty reliable for me.

--- Wynelda Shelton

The Bujold Nexus

Fictionwise
Shards of Honor and Barrayar now available. More to come.

Snippet of upcoming Diplomatic Immunity

Baen Press Sample chapters from A Civil Campaign

Baen Webscriptions

A Civil Campaign August 2000; Mirror Dance and Komarr December 2001;
Diplomatic Immunity May 2002 (first part available mid-February 2002)